Growing Fluency
Rationale. Fluency
is the goal for reading programs because it allows students to read
with ease,
making it easier for them to comprehend, expand their vocabulary, and
enjoy the
text. This lesson will provide the
students with a procedure for learning to be fluent readers (which
includes crosschecking, rereading, using context clues, decoding, and
finishing the sentence after figuring out a tricky word), will model
the
stages of becoming fluent, and will express the positive effects of a
fluent
reading session.
Materials
1) If You Give a
Mouse a
Cookie text- Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give a Mouse a
Cookie.
Illustrated by Felicia Bond. Harper Collins; New York, 1985.
2) Frog and Toad
are Friends
text- Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad are Friends. Harper Collins;
New
York, 1979.
3) Students' texts
of
choice
for AR reading
4) Check
sheets for partner reading: Murray, Bruce. Reading Genie:
Checksheets for
Partner Reading. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/
5)
Access to AR online quiz for assessment- http://www.renlearn.com/ar/
Procedures
Today
we're going to discuss fluent reading. Fluent reading means that you
read
effortlessly with very few mistakes. It is important that you learn to
be
fluent readers because this helps you to understand what you are
reading and
makes reading a lot more fun!
One
step we have to remember in order to be fluent readers is how to help
ourselves
when reading. What have we already learned about how to figure out
words that
we don't know? (We will discuss the self-help strategies for review)
Finish the sentence
Crosschecking
Reread the sentence
Context clues
Decoding
Now
that we know how to help ourselves when we get stuck, let's talk about
how to
recognize when our fluency is increasing. I brought the book "If you
Give
a Mouse a Cookie," and I'm going to read it as if I had never seen it
before. Booktalk: "Do you know what happens if you give a mouse a
cookie? He just keeps wanting more! When will he ever stop? Let's read
to find out. I will model reading with the first page with difficulty:
slowly,
stumbling
over words; missing a couple of words; crosschecking and re-reading the
sentence; no expression- "If. . . you. . . g. . . give. . . a . . .
mou. . . moss. . .a. . . cookie. Oh, Mouse!" etc.)
Could you understand what this story
was about?
Were you interested in the story?
Because
I had some difficulty reading the passage for the first time, I was not
able to
remember much about what I read. It is very important that we remember
what we
read!
Now
that I've seen the passage before, I'm going to try to read it again.
Listen to
how I become more fluent the second time through. (Model reading the
same page;
correct the words that I missed; still no expression)
This
time I was able to remember the corrections I made the first time and I
didn't
miss the words. Were you able to understand what I read any better?
Since I got
the words right this time, I was able to understand what the passage
was about.
Now
I'm going to read the passage one more time, but this time since I'll
know the
words, I'm going to use expression and phrase the sentences like I
would if I
were speaking rather than reading.
(Model reading the same passage without missing any words; use
expression; phrase as if speaking rather than reading).
Did
you notice the difference between the first two times and that time?
During
which reading was it easier for you to understand the story? I know
that when I
read the story the third time I was able to read it as if I were
speaking. This
made it a lot easier for me to understand. Once we have had lots of
practice
reading, our reading becomes more fluent and this helps us to
comprehend the
text.
I'm
going to divide you into reading partners. You and your partner will be
reading
the book "Frog and Toad are Friends. "This book is about a frog and a
toad who are best friends! Do you have a best friend? Are there certain
things you like to do with your best friend? Let's find out what frog
and toad do together by reading the book." With your partner you are
going
to fill out a sheet of paper that will show your partner how their
reading has
improved after they have read a passage two and three times.
Assessment
As
an assessment, the students will be asked to take two AR quizes online.
For the first quiz, the student will simply
read a book of choice (on their reading level) one time through and
take the
quiz to evaluate their comprehension. For the second quiz, the student
will
have the opportunity to read a book of choice (on their reading level)
a total
of three times before taking the quiz to evaluate their comprehension.
The two
quiz grades will be compared to see if fluency has increased. The quiz
is
automatically graded according to the amount of answers the child gave
correctly.
Numeroff, Laura Joffe. If You Give a
Mouse a Cookie.
Illustrated by Felicia Bond. Harper Collins; New York, 1985.
Lobel, Arnold. Frog and Toad are Friends.
Harper Collins; New York, 1979.
Murray, Bruce. Reading Genie: Developing
Reading
Fluency.
http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html.
Murray, Bruce. Reading Genie: Checksheets
for
Partner Reading. http://www.auburn.edu/academic/education/reading_genie/fluency.html
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